My first long arm quilt for 2026 is off the long arm, it just needs to be bound now. This is Chain of Blossoms, the 2025 Brandon Quilters Mystery quilt that I designed. Just needs a binding now.
Handwork Tuesday on Wednesday
Although I should have spent time working on my Twirling Leaves, I decided to look for my hexie bag. It didn’t turn up after yet another pass through the Quilt Studio, so I headed into the house. I started in the front bedroom. Didn’t find it, but waded through 2 large crates, sorting into trash, donate, put away and to be dealt with. The later ended up in just one small crate about 1/3 the size of the 2 I started with, but no hexie bag.
That meant I needed to dig though the boxes in the other room. There was no sorting this time, just digging and I located it! I haven’t found my hexie punch, but it’s not a priority at the moment.
I’m not sure what I was thinking when I put this away. Many of the outer edge hexies are only stitched to the main body and not each other. I worked on those for a while then decided I need to work in sections instead of the round. Well, at least that’s what I thought tonight. We’ll see how it goes.
I drew on my pattern where I want the first section. In this section each row is one more hexie until there are 22 hexies, then each subsequent row is 2 fewer. It’s a good thing this is a WISP because this one section will take me a while at 12-15 hexies a week.
Tonight I may make a pass looking for the Star-a-Day journal, but then I’ll get back on Twirling Leaves. That deadline is looming.
P.S. I waded through my posts to see if I could find a picture of the hexie journal so I know what I’m looking for. This is the only one I found. With this new knowledge, I made another pass through the Quilt Studio and the front bed room.
Look what I found.
Then as I was making this addition to the post, I thought about the box in the closet in the 2nd bedroom. Not finding it there, I made a quick pass though some of the other boxes in the room — and look what I found.
Star # 114 on 4/8/18 is when I pressed the last star that I’ve made. I only counted the stars that I have sewn to the background. I hope the rest of the stars are in the box of pieces, but that is one goose chase that will have to wait until later today.
WISP- Works in Slow Progress
I have a number of project which are in Works Slow Progress – simply because I’m not working on them. I also like to make lists and plans which I may or may not follow through with. It’s perfectly OK when it comes to my quilting. Life happens, I get distracted. But I really would like to start to make progress on a few of these. So I have a few ideas.
Handwork Tuesday
Tuesday was picked because I have quilt guild meetings and Bunco on Monday’s. Also I enjoy watching TV on Tuesday night. If CBS changes the day the NCIS franchise airs, this day may move. So what am I going to work on on Tuesday? One of 3 projects. My Redwork Winter Wonderland, the current panel I’ve been stitching on forever is shown above. I have 2 more panels to stitch after I finish this one before I can start piecing the top. I started this quilt in 2007. My goal for 2026 is to finish this panel.
Next up for Handwork Tuesday is my Star-A-Day quilt which I started back in September 2014. I just checked and I have 103 stars done (this is a old picture). I would like to get 2 stars done a month. I need to find the journal I started when I started this quilt.
My final Handwork Tuesday project is my Hexi quilt. There’s just one issue I’m not sure where the bag is that it is in. I need to find it sooner than later because I would love to significant progress on it this year and I am demonstrating this a a quilt guild meeting later this year. I started this quilt in April 2014.
4th Saturday BOM
I have several BOM which have way more than 12 blocks. I want to take one day a month to simply make progress on these quilts. First up is Just Takes Two. I think there are 29 more blocks, plus the border. I started this in 2012. 
With 77 blocks made I’m just over halfway done with this block a week quilt I started in January 2007. This is Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler.
I want to make every block from Bonnie Hunter’s Addicted to Scrap quilt, then combine it into a single quilt. If I have counted correctly there are 92 blocks and I only have 18 made. I started this project February 2021.
5th Monday Bonus
I have quilt guild or Bunco on the first 3 Monday’s a month, so when we have a 5th Monday it’s bonus time. These are some of the blocks from my Star Studded BOM started October 2019. As near as I can tell I just have the center star and maybe one more to go before I can start assembling it. Even if I only work on it the 5th Monday (March, June, August & November), I think I can finish the top by the end of the year.
I hope that Handwork Tuesday, 4th Saturday BOM and 5th Monday Bonus allows me to make progress on some of these Works in Slow Progress. With the exception of Star Studded, I do not anticipate finishing these tops this year. After all I have other quilts I want to finish this year!
The First Few Days of 2026
I’ve spent the first few days of 2026 in the Quilt Studio. Just poking about and making forward progress. The sewing table is cleared off (well was until I pulled Twirling Leaves out), half the pressing station is cleared, the long arm is cleared (or was until I got back from the laundry mat), and the piles on the other two tables are lower. I’ve also identified 12 projects I want to complete in 2026. A description of the projects and their current state can be seen HERE.
I pulled Twirling Leaves out and assembled the first two sections. I still need to do the turn back on the last section before assembling and attaching it, then adding the borders. This is my # 1 project as I’m sending it out to be custom quilted and I have a slot on the longarmers calendar in early March.
I mentioned going to the laundry mat. My two oversize king quilts needed washing. They just don’t fit in my washing machine and dryer. One hour and $18.50 later, the 2 quilts, as well as 2 table runners and a knitted afghan are clean. While I sat there I ripped apart the green and orange Chain of Blossoms so I can put in sashing and cornerstones.
When I got home, I dug through my backing box and found a piece of fabric big enough to make a backing for the red, white & blue Chain of Blossoms.
Brandon Quilters meets tonight, so I’ll probably only get the long arm cleared off again.
The Final Countdown of 2025
Every year over at Prairie Moon Quilts there is a final count down to get our spaces ready for the new year. As you can see mine is a mess. Here are this years tasks and what if anything I’ve accomplished on them:
Task One:
Make a list of all your projects
This one on the surface was easy enough to do, as I’ve maintained a list of projects and their status since I started blogging in 2009. Earlier this week I updated my Finishes, Quilts to Top and Works in Progress. Later this week I’ll create the pages for 2026 and update my PIGS and WHIMS pages.
Task Two:
I’m afraid I’m taking the easy way out on this one. It’s all going into a bag (or 2 or 3). The stuff that is too small or that I simply don’t want to deal with, will go into bag which will be taken to the guild on Monday for pet beds. The stuff which needs to be processed will go into an bag or two to be deal with later – after I get my space cleaned up. Which brings us to
Task Three:
Technically I have 3 flat surfaces — 6-foot pressing station, a 5-foot AccuQuilt station and a 6-foot cutting station I can get to both side of. In reality, it’s become a storage area. Sure, the pressing station is relatively clear, doing dual duty as both pressing and cutting. I have had the AccuQuilt area cleared, but not for long. The cutting station has simply become a dumping ground. My goal is to clear off all three tables (and while we are at it, my sewing table) and put stuff away!
Let’s see how far I get today.+
December Quilting
This month has been crazy between work, quilting and a trip to Kansas City. Needless to say, blogging fell to the bottom of the list. Here are my last 3 finishes.
Clara – a gift for my SIL Penny. Started 11/30, I finished the piecing and quilting on 12/18 – the night before I left for Kansas City. I packed up the sewing machine and a table to put the binding on when I got there. It was under the tree 12/23. The quilting is Espalier with a -4.25 offset. I used just over 2 bobbins of Glide in Strawberry Blond.
This quilt was my by my nephew for his nephew. In theory the top was to arrive on Saturday 12/13, but instead of being delivered after it arrived in Jackson, it went to McComb, Baton Rouge, Saint Rose, and Memphis before being delivered to me on 12/17. I quilted it in Military Gold thread and the E2E design is Blast Off. My sister put the binding on the quilt Christmas Day.
This is a t-shirt quilt for my my niece. My sister sent it home with me back in October. I quilted it in November and “gifted” to our niece unbound on 12/21 when I saw her. I got it bound 12/24. After our nephew saw it, he decided he needed a t-shirt quilt, so gathered up his cross country t-shirts and “gifted” them to my sister for Christmas. They spent Christmas day working on the layout. Kalli got her quilt on the 26th.
I’m throwing one more in here. This Stack-n-Whack was started a a quilt retreat in 2006. A friend asked to buy a queen size quilt. This one is 75 x 100. So, I pulled it out and used Espalier and 3 bobbins of Grape thread to quilt it back on 10/4. Then I got caught up with finishing my SILs sister quilts to take to Kansas City in October and it sat until 11/29 when I finished binding it.
What I’m Working on Wednesday – 12/10/25
Clara is coming along. I have all the units done for one color, just 8 more sets to go before I can start assembling blocks. I need to get a move on it. My sister called me yesterday morning and said she’s sending me a quilt top to quilt and wants me to bring it with me for Christmas. So that’s 3 quilts which need binding, one of which needs to be quilted and one that is in pieces. This should be fun.
A Quilt by December 17th
Nothing like leaving it to the last minute. Back in June at the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival, my SIL Penny, fell in love with this quilt. — ooh, I just noticed there is a second colorway behind it. I don’t remember if we looked at it our not, but I digress. Anyway, I told Penny I’d make it for her and she bought the pattern and as much of the fabric as the booth still had.
The next month I found the rest of the fabric, but I haven’t had a chance to start it until this week.
By Wednesday, I had most of the quilt cut and started making the background and white HST.
Last night I finished them.
Up next are flying geese with white skies. I still need to cut the white fabric. I hope to get these finished tonight and maybe even the white geese in dark skies. That would then leave me the chevron block to make before I can start assembling the blocks.
Guild Auction
Monday night was Brandon Quilters annual Make It, Bake It, Sew It, Grew It Auction. It’s a chance to clear out the never or gently used items from our space and raise funds for the guild. I was assisting with the auction, so someone else was tracking my purchases. I was surprised at what I got for $30. I really thought I spent more, but then again, I didn’t get win everything I bid on.
First up is this selection of books. the New York Beauty Diversified is by Linda Hahn. She will be teaching in the area in January 2027. Next year one of the groups I’m in is considering a programs on quilts for guys and fractured quilts.
I have one of the Twister Rulers, but I can’t remember which one. I might even have the Quilt on a Chair pattern. I know I bought a chair a while back to do this to.
Someone brought in these Cathedral Window bases. There are 4 bed runners. I’ll get to them eventually.
There are a number of gardeners in the guild. I brought home this aloe vera. I wonder if I can keep it alive longer than the last one I brought home.
I won this quart of sweet pickles and 6 little jars.
I sent a picture of the knitting books to my niece and she said she would like the Cast On Bind Off book. I grabbed the sock books and the Elizabeth Zimmermann book on principle.
The treasurer reported we made $1520.
Twirling Leaves Progress
This weekend I worked on my Twirling Leaves quilt. I took it to Sit-n-Sew Saturday. More time was spent talking than quilting and that is perfectly OK. I accomplished what I needed – get all the blocks pieced and determine where they would be placed in the quilt. Once that was done I packed up and came home around 4. No further quilting was accomplished Saturday.
Then with the time change, I was up early. I unpacked and started “peeling back” the curves. All of the color peel back is done and now I need to work on the background peel back. I started working on it last night, then broke a needle. I spent time cleaning my machine, then called it a day. There’s a guild meeting tonight – it’s our annual auction — so it will probably be tomorrow before I make any more progress.
